The United States Should Reform The Clean Water Act Of 1972

He announced it was the first symbolic act of “the environmental decade.” Between the years of 1970 and 1972, Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency and signed laws including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Another thing he did was sign executive orders and international agreements on environmental issues. In early 1973, an international conference was held to discuss endangered species. The product of the conference was the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. The U.S. needed a new legislation to meet some of the agreement’s provisions and it led to the Endangered Species Act. In Nixon’s State of the Union speech in 1973, he called for stronger wildlife protection. The results of these environmental laws and international agreements made the public extremely happy. Even though Nixon’s intentions were selfish when he got involved in environmental concerns, he responded unquestionably positive. All his hard work helped pave the way for a cleaner society.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency or EPA was initially proposed in 1970 by then President Richard Nixon. The agency was created to build on other environmental regulations enacted by the federal government and to consolidate those efforts to be managed by one government agency. It was also a reaction to the public’s growing concern over pollution and other environmental issues. Chemical waste was commonly released into bodies of water creating unsafe drinking water and rivers catching fire. Industrial air pollution, such as acid rain and smog, was also affecting manufacturing cities with coal-powered plants. There was little serious regulation on pollution until major environment laws started being passed by Congress in the early sixties.

Furthermore, the Shore Protection Act is applicable to the transportation of municipal and commercial waste in coastal waters aiming to minimize debris from being deposited into coastal waters from inadequate waste handling procedures by waste transporting vessels (Laws That Protect). The Center for Biodiversity had petitioned the EPA to begin regulating plastics as a pollutant under The Clean Water Act- a crucial first step in reducing the amount of plastic. The Clean Water Act is the nation's strongest law protecting water quality. Recognition of plastic pollution under the clean water act enables states to develop water-quality standards to finally begin curbing the amount of plastic dumped in the oceans.

The Senate Committee on Public Works recognized the ever-growing environmental issues and released House report No. 1829 stating, “Pollution of our water resources by domestic and industrial wastes has become an increasingly serious problem... Polluted waters menace the public health, destroy fish and game life, and rob us of other benefits of our natural resources.” Accompanied by support from President Harry S. Truman, although not without dispute, the FWPCA of 1948 was passed by Congress (Berry 1969). Disagreement was had over whether water pollution was an issue to be dealt with by the state or the federal government. An issue that remains today. The vision of a substantially enforced legislation diminished into a much more feeble bill where water pollution was viewed as a state or local problem and the Federal government only intervened when invited to settle interstate water conflicts (Berry

Over the past decade a concern for protecting and preserving the environment has developed amongst United States citizens. Citizens have been promoting clean air, clean water, and clean land. Clean air means protecting the public from airborne contaminants known to be hazardous to human health. The Clean Air Act of 1970 is a law designed to control air pollution on a national level. It requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop and enforce regulations in order to protect the people (Environmental Protection Agency 2013). Clean water is water which is safe enough to be consumed by humans or used with low risk of harm. The Clean Water Act of 1972 was developed to restore and maintain the chemical, physical,

Water pollution, as defined by the World Wildlife Fund, “happens when toxic substances enter water bodies such as lakes, rivers, oceans and so on, getting dissolved in them, lying suspended in the water or depositing on the bed.”1 In 1948, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act was passed by congress, but was later amended in 1972 in response to great public outcry—this amended document is what is now known as the Clean Water Act.2 Despite these national efforts, in a report released by the Environment America Research & Policy Center in 2014, Virginia was listed as one of the top five states with the largest discharge of toxic substances into waterways, documented at over eleven million pounds.3 Furthermore, in a 2014 report conducted by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, it was found that the water pollution has spread throughout sixteen-thousand miles of the state’s rivers.4

on asserted that he was “not a crook. I’ve earned everything I got.” With the

The exponential growth of human population, caused an unprecedented problem for the global ecosystem. (Carolina EcoKits, 2012) The increase in pollution brought upon great fear and concern about what types of contaminants were in the foods and water supply for citizens. In 1977, the Clean Water Act was passed, the act ensured that any release of pollutants at toxic levels into any water source was forbidden. (Carolina EcoKits, 2012) It allowed for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set guidelines and standards for how pollutants were emptied in navigable waters. (Carolina EcoKits, 2012)

President Richard Nixon officially created the Environmental Protection Agency, otherwise noted as the EPA, in the spring of 1970. However, concern for the environment and its protection began long before the government regulatory body. In years prior, environmentalism had planted its roots as a growing focus of many American citizens. Before the focus on the environment as we know it, there were multiple individuals who stressed the importance of nature and brought attention to the degradation of the environment through industrialization. Famous literary scholars first expressed their concern during the 1850’s—a direct response to the Industrial Revolution. Henry David Thoreau, with his ode to nature through Walden, or Life in the Woods, captured the importance of nature in a transcendental sense; while later in the nineteenth century, John Burroughs took a more realistic approach with his 27 volumes of essays on his experience with nature. In 1935, President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal brought the sense of ecology into government acts; among which were The Soil Conservation Service—reducing the effects of erosion on agricultural land, and the Pittman-Robertson Act, responsible for funding state fishing and wildlife programs from taxes on hunting and fishing equipment.1

The Rio Grande River is currently on the 303(d) list of the Clean Water Act (CWA). The lower Sub-Basin from International Falcon Reservoir downstream to the Gulf of Mexico is lacking infrastructure to adequately handle the environmental consequences of human and industrial waste generation and disposal on the U. S side in locations such as Harlingen, TX. The Rio Grande is mostly affected by the high volumes of dissolved solids, such as salinity and bacteria. The U.S is working to introduce a common set of standards that can be agreed on by both countries.

The Clean Water Act (CWA) was created in response the rapid loss of clean water. The government wanted to restore and preserve the water, as much of it was no longer useable for consumption or recreational use. A lot of this was due to agricultural runoff which lead to a surplus of phosphorus and nitrogen in many waters. (Tim Martins)

Opponents of increasing water regulation assert that the regulatory framework governing water in the United States is already too complex and onerous. Alleged threats to water quality, they argue, are overblown. Imposing aggressive new federal standards will burden businesses and farmers, they insist, and the Clean Water Rule should be

Upon the signing of the Clean Water Act of 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson said, “The banks of a river may belong to one man or one industry or one state, but the waters which flow between the banks should belong to all the people.” This statement is profound because it emphasizes the need of water is universal and should be accessible by everyone. But in order to preserve water organizations must be put in place that protect the water and make it accessible. In order to establish a global change in water sustainability, it is essential preservation efforts start on the local scale. The front runner in the local efforts to achieve sustainability is the protection of watersheds. The DuPage County has six primary watershed planning areas:

The Clean Water Act (CWA) founds the elementary structure for regulating releases of contaminants into the water bodies of the US and also for surface waters it regulates quality standards. The origin of the CWA was passed in 1948 and was named the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, then the Act was suggestively reorganized and prolonged in 1972. as "Clean Water Act" this became the Act 's communal name after amendments in 1972.Further down to CWA, EPA has applied other pollution control agendas such as for industry, the setting wastewater standards. We similarly have set some water quality standards for all pollutants in surface waters.

Enacted in 1972, the Clean Water Act was formulated with the goals of putting the end to the discharging of high quantities of contaminated materials into water resources, and further prevent pollution of water , and making sure that surface waters met the standards needed to support human and agricultural usage. Essentially, the Clean Water Act stipulates the fundamental structure used in the regulation of discharges of toxic pollutants into water resources of the US and ensuring conformance of quality standards for groundwater (Environmental Protection Agency). The Clean Water Act was draws based on the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1948, which was later developed and revised in 1972 to the Clean Water Act. Under the Clean Water Act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is authorized to implement programs to control pollution example being the establishment of standards for wastewater discharge for various industries. In addition, the CWA establishes the water quality standards applicable to all groundwater contaminants. The Clean Water Act makes it illegal to unload any contaminant material from a point source into navigable water bodies without acquiring permit from EPA. The National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit program, under the EPA, helps in controlling discharges (Environmental Protection